This roundtable is part of an ongoing podcast series about the Speech-Language Pathology program at Salus University.
Thanks for joining us for our podcast series, talking to students about graduate school. Join Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, FNAP, the chair and program director of the department of Speech-Language Pathology at Salus University as he speaks with students on campus, the class of 2021. Learn more about the program as representatives talk about how they transitioned from their undergraduate programs to a graduate program, and specifically how they're making out at Salus' program.
To start us off, the students introduced themselves and stated their undergraduate program and their areas of interest in the profession, including how they may have changed since starting classes and clinical experiences:
Nina Metz
Hello, my name is Nina. As Bob said, we are Speech-Language Pathology students, we are all in our second year. So I started out at West Virginia University with a psychology degree, and then jumped to speech and went to Westchester for a year. And now I'm at Salus. I've worked with kids for the past four years, specifically children with autism spectrum disorder. And that's really been my passion. I knew coming into this I wanted to do speech with them. But I will say it has changed a little bit. The more I've been learning about what you can do with adults and geriatrics, I have been more interested in that, and luckily my placement next semester is at a rehab where I will be able to figure that out. So I'm excited for that.
Rebecca Ritsick
Hello, I am Becca. I went to Westchester University for undergrad. I've been all over with my area of interest. I did have some experience with children at one point. But something I never thought I would be interested in, would be acute care dysphasia, and right now my placement is in acute care dysphasia, and I absolutely love it. So it was a pleasant surprise to get that experience. I never would have known that I wanted to do that if I didn't have my placement now. So it definitely has changed to something that I never would have expected it to.
Allison Stern
I'm Allie. I did my undergrad at Penn State. I've always been interested in working with kids. I've worked with kids for a couple years, and I just have felt like I have just worked better with them than other populations. Specifically, I think that I want to work with kids in a school, and actually my placement right now is at a school, and that has reinforced me wanting to do that. So I wouldn't say that my interests have changed, but I will say that from the clinical experiences that I've gotten, I've worked with a couple of clients with aphasia and I absolutely loved working with them, and I never expected that. So that would definitely be something that I would keep in the back of my mind for when I'm out in the profession.
Courtney Bentzel
Hi, I'm Courtney. I went to Westchester University for my undergrad, and now like everyone, I'm at Salus. Going into the program, I wanted to work with kids and I've been working with kids for a while, but as the semester went on and I had adult clients, like Allie, I also fell in love with aphasia. So I'm still up in the air, and I am at a rehab facility next semester. So I'm really excited for that to work with adults and hopefully make my decision if I want to work with adults or children.
Dariann Pastelok
Hi, I'm Dariann. I went to Bloomsburg University for my undergrad. And my areas of interest, I've always been interested in pediatrics, and I'm still interested in pediatrics. I'm in a school this semester and it's actually a completely different experience than I thought. I was guarded off from a school. I really wanted the medical-based side, but I have a very diverse caseload with kids with complex communication needs, and I absolutely love it. So I guess that's still where I'm at. Next semester might change, I'm still open-minded though.
Melanie Polo
Hi, I'm Melanie. I went to the University of Delaware for undergrad. And in the past I've had experience with older students, 18 to 21, with intellectual disabilities. So I thought that I was leaning toward that when I came into the speech aspect of it. But now something is telling me to try a medical aspect and go into a hospital. So hopefully next semester, if I'm put at a hospital, I'll figure that out, because I have no idea right now.
Bob Serianni
Thank you for sharing those stories. I think a lot of students, when they're in CSD undergraduate programs, think they have to know where they want to be. And I probably promised all of you, if not most of you, that my job is not when you get here to convince you that you want to go into my favorite area of the`profession, but really are you sure? Is that the area that you think that you want to be in? And our goal is to always give you a wide experience so we can either reinforce it, or show you something that you weren't even familiar with and thought, "Gosh, I can really see myself doing this." And you really do represent a diversity of students that hopefully will represent eventually a diversity throughout the profession. So one of my goals gathering you all today, is to really expand on what's it like to be in our program. And I'm wondering if a couple of you can share some of the best aspects of being at Salus. What have those experiences been like for you?
Melanie Polo
One of the best aspects of the program that I would say, is that we start right away with the clients, and we have the clinic right on campus. So it's really convenient for us to start getting those hours.
Allison Stern
Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I think that, that's a really big, like Mel said, one of the best aspects of this program. I would also say from the classroom side, the hands-on experiences that we've been able to have, like we've gone to Moss Rehab where we observed evaluations being done and then got to plan our own activities to do with the client. So we got to see sessions done in the more real world scenario outside of the clinic. We also got to go observe swallow studies in hospitals, in Philadelphia. And even though we didn't get to do this in person like it was planned, we got a presentation from a hearing aid company. So we've definitely gotten a lot of hands-on experiences from our classroom where we're able to apply what we're learning and actually see it in a real world experience.
Bob Serianni
Yeah. I think that those experiences are so important. My hope is that as time goes on, we get to get back to those hands-on, face-to-face experiences where we get creative, like we did with that audiology vendor and do things in that more remote virtual realm. All right, I'm going to open myself up here. What have been some of the more challenging aspects of the program as you've ventured through graduate school?
Courtney Bentzel
We do start with clients our first semester, and it is amazing to get that experience. But it definitely is a challenge, because you go from undergrad where you have all this free time and you're only taking five classes, and you can have a job, you can hang out with your friends, to now balancing the workload of your classes along with clinic. And there's a lot of preparing for your clients. But I think Salus does do a great job of giving us all the materials and the time to prepare for those clients. So it is an adjustment, but it is doable.
Nina Metz
And also the second year you start your externship. So I would say what's challenging for me right now is balancing the workload with the externship, because you still do have classes at night. So sometimes you're at a school or a hospital 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., and then you have class 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. So it's a lot to balance. But at the same time, I have learned more in my externship. And I feel like as the days go on, I'm like, yeah, I remember learning that about that in this class. And it helps me learn better when I'm doing it in person, like Allie said, with the hands-on, that was one of the best experiences. So even though the second year is so busy, it really is beneficial and it really pays off.
Bob Serianni
I know that the nomenclature is work-life balance. And balance doesn't necessarily mean equal. Sometimes it's heavier on one side than the other, but I promise you, where you spend the time now, it's going to be easier down the road. And finally, I'm just wondering if you can contribute some thoughts around something that's really surprised you? What has been, dare I say startling, that you found here at the program?
Dariann Pastelok
Well, for me, I come from a very small town, and then also, even in undergrad, you learn about all these different disorders, just in textbook. Everything's in a textbook. But then when you come here and you go to the clinic, I was just shocked with all the diversity of the clients in the clinic. And that's a good thing. Apraxia. Everyone says how rare it is, but we actually have clients in the clinic that had apraxia, or a big aspect of bilingualism. There's clients in the clinic that are bilingual, and you learn how to work with them, what materials to use. And just the overall populations in the clinic, I think surprised me. Another one that stands out is the transgender population in voice therapy. So I just found that so surprising in a way, just transitioning from the textbook to actual in-person, that stuff.
Nina Metz
I think I had in my head that with supervisors, we would just be given one, and you would spend a lot of time with that one person. But we get to spend so much time with different supervisors that we have in clinic, and see each of their different ways of instructing and note writing. And that changes every semester. So we get a good variety of learning from different people in a clinical setting, which I was surprised about. I thought you'll have one supervisor for these people and call it a day with that. So it's nice to be able to build those relationships and have them carry throughout the semesters, and just gain more knowledge as you learn from different people.
Bob Serianni
I was sweating there for a little bit. I was wondering what opportunities you were going to share, and I'm glad that we were positive through all that. Thank you so much. I guess, in wrapping up tonight's conversation, I'm wondering if you can give us a little bit of advice? So knowing what you know now, what would you share with a prospective student thinking about going to graduate school, or coming to Salus' program specifically?
Melanie Polo
This will not be the last time you hear this, but be flexible, that nothing is set in stone, and things will move around and change, and often. So you just have to move and change with it.
Bob Serianni
Yeah. On behalf of the program, I apologize that I couldn't plan the pandemic a little bit more conveniently for everyone.
Courtney Bentzel
I would say a piece of advice I have is, Salus offers so much, not only in your program, but outside of the program. So just get involved. It's a really great way to meet people from different majors and network. And some of the programs you get paid for work study, and it's also a really good resume builder.
Dariann Pastelok
Okay, this might sound cheesy, but just believe in yourself, because you do know more than you think you do. And then also just, don't be afraid to ask questions. That's how I learn best. And I realize that it benefits you in the end.
Rebecca Ritsick
Don't be afraid to put yourself out there, both in the classroom and in the clinic and externship placements. And don't be afraid to be wrong. I know right now I'm learning a lot because of being wrong. And it's a more meaningful learning experience by putting myself out there, and then having to learn from the wrong. But it's not a bad thing to be wrong all the time. It could be a great learning experience.
Nina Metz
So going off of having the clinic your first semester, it sounds absolutely terrifying. I know we were all terrified, because we're like, "Wait, we don't know anything yet. How are we going to help this client?" And it definitely is scary, but the supervisors are super supportive, and I think jumping right into it, it helps me learn so much more. And it's just really beneficial. Communication is key. Don't be afraid to reach out to your professors. A lot of them are doctors. They know a lot of stuff, but don't be afraid because they know a lot of stuff. So they have a big brain that you can pick, and it's definitely beneficial to do so.
Allison Stern
One thing that I would say, is to keep an open mind about client populations that you want to work with. A lot of us have said that some of our interests have changed, or they're changing, or we're still trying to figure it out. So I would say to anybody considering what they're going into, don't rule out everything else. Like I said before, I came in only thinking that I wanted to work with kids, and I still want to work with kids, but I'm not completely turned off from working with adults after getting the experiences that I've had. So I would definitely say to keep an open mind, and definitely consider any type of population, working with anybody would definitely be good.
Bob Serianni
I want to thank each of you and all of you collectively for joining us tonight. I hope that you have a better understanding of the big, scary world that graduate school can be. But I think these are great examples of even though it's big and scary, we have the support, the faculty, the technology, the materials, to make sure that your opportunity is successful in the end.
